The present invention relates to a belt for trousers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a belt for trousers that is more comfortable for one who wears the belt by providing for a limited amount of elastic expansion.
The present invention relates to a belt for trousers that provides for a limited amount of elastic expansion to accommodate the comfort of one who wears the belt. A resilient belt is obtained whereby the circumference of the circular area defined by the belt while being worn may be changed in accordance with the requirements of the body of the user of the belt. For example, the circumference of the belt may be required to change during periods of exertion, after eating a large meal, or under any other conditions where a slight increase, for example, a one-half inch to a one inch increase, in the length of the belt, without repositioning the buckle, is desirable. It is also desirable that a user of the belt is not inconvenienced and/or embarrassed by the need to adjust his or her belt by unbuckling and re-buckling the belt to allow for more slack during such activity.
When such a belt is used in association with a body, it is also highly desirable that the resilient portion be relatively inconspicuous such that only the person who wears the belt is aware of the resilient feature.
Numerous patents have addressed these needs. However, these patents are universally substantially more complicated than the simple and elegant design of the present invention. Additionally, typically, these patents are directed to an expansion feature in the buckle of the belt rather than the strap portion of the belt. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,147,619 (Wirth) is directed to a belt buckle having an expansion feature where the strap of the belt is connected to a yoke attached to the buckle where the yoke has a spring that biases the strap towards the buckle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,821 (Malsoute) is directed to a trouser belt having an extensible clasp. Here, the user of the belt presses tappets that protrude from the belt buckle that free a sliding plate when pressed to disengage a ratchet. The user can loosen his belt, for example, after eating a large meal, by pressing the tappets to increase the circumference of the buckled belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,087,151 (Homberger) is directed to a yieldable belt connection. An elongated plate provides a pair of spaced apart sleeves through which the main axis point of the buckle passes. The plate is mounted on the axis point so that the buckle can move relative to the plate. Springs urge the buckle toward the strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,671 (Chen) discloses an elastic belt buckle that has a prong which slides on the base of the buckle by means of an elastic device. The belt is buckled by fastening the prong into a punched hole in the belt.
Other similar patents, each of which includes a mechanical expansion feature as part of its buckle, include U.S. Pat. No. 2,388,752 (Loos), U.S. Pat. No. 1,619,138 (Kollstede), U.S. Pat. No. 1,622,954 (Macheroux), U.S. Pat. No. 1,618,389 (Sampson et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 1,463,904 (Mix).
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.